If you’ve never read an installment of Connecting Imaginary Dots, allow me to explain the idea. Connecting Imaginary Dots was the title I came up with for my speculation pieces when I was writing at MCU Exchange. These types of pieces basically allow me to unload a bunch of junk that’s circulating in my brain in a way that should never be confused for things I actually expect to happen. I basically take a bunch of facts that are almost always entirely unrelated and do my best to connect the dots with by stretching my imagination. In the past these types of pieces have resulted in me theorizing that the Spider-Man sequel which became Far From Home might end up being a team-up outing of Spidey and Hulk in the Savage Land;however, I also wrote one theorizing that Sterling K. Brown would be playing the father of Erik Killmonger in Black Panther LOOOOOONG before anyone else was considering it and one in which I theorized that Annette Bening was actually Mar-Vell when everyone else still thought Jude Law was playing the character. The bottom line is this: these are fun spec pieces that allow me to just be a fan. With that out of the way…
Back in December, actress Miki Ishikawa and actor Desmond Chiam were added to the cast of The Falcon and The Winter Soldier. While Chiam has been photographed on set on more than one occasion, there has been no sign of Ishikawa so far. Though she has not been on set, she has been putting herself through the paces of a rigorous regimen of exercise, the kind of routine that one might associate with becoming a superhero.
I have long believed that Marvel Studios has been working to set up some version of the Thunderbolts and I have often theorized how The Falcon and The Winter Soldier might be just the place to introduce the team. The present day of the MCU is a time without heroes. With the Avengers gone, the time is right for Thaddeus Ross to bring in his own team that he controls. I’m a big believer that the Thunderbolts are coming, so when Ishikawa was cast, I quickly jumped to the possibility of her playing one of the OG Thunderbolts: Jolt.
First introduced in 1997’s Thunderbolts #1, Hallie Takahama, aka Jolt, is one of the first members to be added to the Thunderbolts initial roster. Following experimentation by Arnim Zola, Jolt became attuned to her body’s bioelectric field to the extent that she could both weaponize it and use it to move incredibly fast.
As I stated earlier, when Ishikawa was cast, there was no evidence to support that she would actually play Jolt, so my guess was just a guess and, most likely, driven by my desire to see the Thunderbolts enter the MCU. But then yesterday, Ishikawa posted some pictures of her newest tattoos and one of them REALLY stood out to me:
That tiny little lightning bolt on her wrist looks exactly like the kind of tattoo one might get if she had been cast as a Thunderbolt (the team logo is a lightning bolt) and, perhaps more specifically as Jolt! Adding more fuel to the fire was a now deleted comment from a user saying “Can’t wait to see you as Jolt in the MCU!”, a comment that Ishikawa liked before it disappeared.
Connecting these dots really makes it seem like Jolt is a real possibility for Ishikawa’s mystery role and, if that’s the case, the Thunderbolts cannot be far behind!
